£150- new compact/bridge or second hand DSLR?

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

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I'm thinking of getting a camera in the sales. I originally was looking at bridges cameras but they just seem to be p&s camera with stupid zooms that they won't even be able to use fully...?

Something like this or this.

So then I thought of getting a second hand DSLR base + lens jobbie from the London Camera Exchange or similar. Something like this or this.

I see the base units in my price range of £100 (assuming 50 is enough for a lense?? I don't know what lenses are compatible! But the lenses seem to be £20 and up...) are pretty old- 2003/4/5 and I'm wondering if these are too old really and will be bettered by the auto-everything modern P&S cameras above?

I really want some/all manual settings to play around with. But this would be my first DSLR.

So... err... any advice?
 
have a look for a compact camera system, best of both worlds. I got sick of carrying my DSLR everywhere to the point i just left it at home, but like you, i didn't want a P+S due to lack of manual functions so i got a CSC, it's portable enough to carry around with all the functionality of a DSLR
 
If you want to be 'serious' about photography then i would try to steer clear of point and shoot purely because you don't have the same functions available to you - the sensor is very small which means a smaller pixel pitch and worse noise, along with having less ability to control depth of field. As the lens is a 'face anything thats thrown at it' lens, it tends to have many more compromises built into it and so again will (technically) produce worse photos.

These problems are partly made up for with the bridge cameras as they are a large form factor, sensor is therefore larger and the lens doesn't have to make as many compromises. For the vast majority of cases these cameras do absolutely brilliantly and take excellent pictures.

I have always used DSLRs and swear by them - they are a large investment in the beginning and the most important investment you make is with the lenses as they can be used on multiple cameras and if you buy well they never need to be upgraded. Although they tend to be more restricted, within that zoom range they tend to be of a much higher quality.

Having said all of this, I would personally go for a DSLR and take it on from there - more room for upgrades in the future as well as having the best functionality, SNR and depth of field control. However, in order to take good pictures you have to have a good (and willing) subject and the skills to go with it, so alternatively go for the bridge and spend the rest to go take pictures somewhere!
 
But with a budget of £150 nothing will be an investment. You won't get a good enough lens for that sort of money to be classed as an investment nor the body.

Have you looked at maybe an Olympus xz-1 or a canon s100. Nice little compacts that allow some manual control.

For a DSLR setup you could triple you budget and still come up short.
 
cwgk91 said:
If you want to be 'serious' about photography then i would try to steer clear of point and shoot purely because you don't have the same functions available to you - the sensor is very small which means a smaller pixel pitch and worse noise, along with having less ability to control depth of field. As the lens is a 'face anything thats thrown at it' lens, it tends to have many more compromises built into it and so again will (technically) produce worse photos.

These problems are partly made up for with the bridge cameras as they are a large form factor, sensor is therefore larger and the lens doesn't have to make as many compromises. For the vast majority of cases these cameras do absolutely brilliantly and take excellent pictures.

I have always used DSLRs and swear by them - they are a large investment in the beginning and the most important investment you make is with the lenses as they can be used on multiple cameras and if you buy well they never need to be upgraded. Although they tend to be more restricted, within that zoom range they tend to be of a much higher quality.

Having said all of this, I would personally go for a DSLR and take it on from there - more room for upgrades in the future as well as having the best functionality, SNR and depth of field control. However, in order to take good pictures you have to have a good (and willing) subject and the skills to go with it, so alternatively go for the bridge and spend the rest to go take pictures somewhere!
Click to expand...

A high end P&S will give you the same controls as a low-end DSLR so that really isn't an issue.

Also a modern high end P&S will take equal or better photos than a first gen low end DSLR in a much smaller package.


Also, Bridge camera don't really make up for anything, their sensors are smaller than a high end P&S in order to provide greater reach.



The problem with buying a DSLR and lens for 150 quid is you are buying very old outdated hardware. There is no investment being made, everything will be basically throw away.

The lens will end up being an 18-55mm f/5.6 of sorts. At which point a high end compact will effectively have a much better aperture, letting in more light, giving a better SNR and offering a shallower DoF.



OP- don't make the mistake of thinking that a professional photographer is controlling everything manually all the time. Almost all pros will use automatic metering modes such as aperture or shutter priority and let the camera calculate the exposure. When using shutter priority you just set a number once and forget about it typically. In aperture mode you really just select between 3 values, wide open, optical sharpness, maximum depth of focus. It is really no different to selecting "landscape or portrait mode".

What makes a great photographer is the images that they can capture, a high end P&S is perfectly capable and will come with all the same kinds of "manual" controls as you will find on a DSLR.
 
You can get a Panasonic GF5 and kit lens for that sort of money. Might be a good middle ground. Or even better, a second hand GX1 and kit lens would set you back under £200 if you stretch the budget slightly. m43 provides pretty astonishing value at this sort of budget.
 
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